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Monday, 23 February 2015

StokeMandeville FACTS Pt 3

By June 1980 it was all systems go for the rebuilding of the Spinal Injuries Unit at SMH. I liked the following image of Jim with some of the patients etc.

I was happier still when I noticed a familiar face !

Correct me if I'm wrong, but this young man looks very like the one I use on my Twitter account because I like it so much

The Appeal is nationwide even a Police Force in County Durham join in and raise £2,500

I haven't been able to locate the news story behind this photo. It only appeared post Oct 2012 as part of the scheme to abuse ANY organisation, Police force etc associated with Savile. I do have the following but cannot confirm it as FACT but include it anyway FYI

The blogger says that this came from 'something called Durham narpo' THIS is NARPO and try as I might I have NOT been able to locate any further information on the above

But, I digressed there for a moment. Back to FACTS because one staggering FACT is that, by November 1981 Jimmy's appeal had already raised HALF of the £10,000,000 he'd promised to get.

Those are the words of Norman Fowler then Sec of State for Social Services http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1981/nov/06/national-health-service#S6CV0012P0_19811106_HOC_22

The same month Jimmy unveils the new buildings plan to royalty

And Jimmy's team is working flat out to get the rest of that £10,000,000. Here he is with his right hand woman and PA, Janet Cope in 1982. I'll be blogging more about Mrs Cope and others involved with Jimmy and Stoke Mandeville Hospital in the next few days. After we get the new Unit built and opened that is !

I can imagine various comments on the internet about that last photo. They would be something along the lines of "Ewww.... He's hardly dressed. There's something wrong with HIM!" There is a strange prurience abroad these days. One correspondent referred to it once and termed it, "The loathing of the flesh". It's a peculiar thing. The same commentators would likely see Ms. Cope's bare-shouldered summer dress as nothing to comment upon. I daresay a pyschologist might explain how all this works.

One thing I've noticed , looking at all the photos you show on here, is how utterly normal and natural JS looks in most of them - as in the photo with the young man in a wheelchair, for example. (I can see why you like that one - it's an excellent image - speaks volumes.) This is in complete contrast to the pictures of JS published in any one of the mainstream news outlets. Their picture editors always seem to choose the pictures where he's got his showbiz "mask" on, playing up for the camera and looking weird and creepy

One thing I've noticed is how bloody hard it is to find the good stuff about Jimmy now. It's all the shite since 2012. These blogs take hours and hours of research sometimes. Altho' I do sometimes get a little bit of help from somewhere from time to time ! Yes I really like this photo of him and the lad on the ward. It was Moor who used it in one of his blog posts and I just had to have it ! Thank you Mrs G x

Here's what the photographer has to say: "He was a broadsheet snapper's nightmare as every time a camera was raised so would be his thumbs and cigar.... keeping the Savile thumbs down was farcical. Shooting on a 200mm lens wide open down a long corridor I had to keep walking back to him to try "keep it natural", something completely alien to him. I had to actually physically pose him before getting the shot "http://michaelpowellphotographer.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/now-then-now-then-dr-smudge.html